Tuesday, October 28, 2008

I made these ghosts out of glittery satin and tulle last year. They are stuffed with paper, and the eyes are painted on with acrylic. I think they look sort of bridal. You can make up a story about why there are four of them.

I made the bats out of craft felt. I also made these felt leaves to put on tables, around the appetizers for our Halloween party.

Geoff's mother sends him colored leaves in an envelope from New Hampshire every year. It's very sweet, and they smell good. I used one as a stencil to design the maple leaves.

If you are using water and want to keep your jars for future years, mix the water with household cleaner to keep the water from growing stuff.

The labels are laser printed on linen paper that has been scrunched up, dipped in coffee, and pressed dry between paper towels and heavy books. I used Excellentia in excelsis for the titles and Note This font for the writing (both are free). I also used the letter "e" from Floralia for the corners, and various Flourishes found online. I arranged them all on one piece of paper, for easy printing.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

We had a Halloween party last night. I dressed as Sarah Palin, and Geoff dressed as John McCain.

Oh! Did you see what I did there? Sorry. Geoff insisted I make that joke. He came up with this costume by himself, and he really enjoyed it.

Makeup was from a makeup kit he found at CVS meant for making a puppy dog (?).

The jacket he already owned. He bought it many years ago at a thrift store thinking, and I am not kidding, "Hmm, this would be cool if someday I wanted to be the joker for Halloween." He bought the vest at a thrift store yesterday, just hours before the party, and painted it green with thinned out acrylic paint. The pants, we dyed purple with RIT dye.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Usually for Halloween I just pull out my Comic Con costume and lovingly wear it again. This year, however, I've assembled my best fitted suit, peep toed pumps, and square glasses for a topical costume...

I sculpted the above Alaska-shaped earrings out of polymer clay, then baked 'em in the oven and painted them gold.

I made this oversize American Flag pin out of Shrinky Dinks. The finding is an old Siggraph pin (and to think I almost threw that schwag away).

Saturday, October 4, 2008

I've been a way for a while; sorry, I got a job! It's short term for now, but it pays well and the work is relatively stress free (so far). I've been all busy again so I'm backlogged on posts; here's one I meant to post last week.

Geoff and I went to the Pirate Faire in Ojai, California. It was, believe it or not, the 17th annual pirate faire at this location. It was like a Renaissance Faire, except more absurd.

Yar!

There was a pirate battle, with a mini pirate ship performing some forced perspective for us.

And very loud cannons.

I could not tell you who won.

If I was going to a Pirate Faire I was going to dress up a little anyway. I found our costumes at the excellent Salvation Army on Sepulveda in Van Nuys.

My costume was three separate pieces that somehow managed to work together. Geoff's shirt was an actual pirate costume shirt that got accidentally sorted into woman's clothing. Total cost, ten dollars.

There were many other more elaborate costumes. People did take this fairly seriously.